


Finding Ilene

by Zekeboy98



Series: The Inquisitor Saga [6]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Red Templars (Dragon Age), Templars (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26248318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zekeboy98/pseuds/Zekeboy98
Series: The Inquisitor Saga [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1489745
Kudos: 6





	Finding Ilene

It had been a whole week since Leo approached Leliana with his request. Although his duties as the Inquisitor kept him busy, in his down time he couldn’t help but think when Leliana would receive news about his request. Today, he was by the stables, helping the Quartermaster tend to his stallion, Shiloh. Usually it brought him great joy to be able to brush Shiloh’s luscious and shiny mane and hear the nays of content from the stallion, but today the joy was absent. Shiloh could tell and the Quartermaster as well, but he kept his thoughts to himself. In an effort to make him feel better, Shiloh rubbed against Leo causing him to laugh although it was very brief. After finishing up the grooming of Shiloh, Leo was prepared to pick up some seeds to feed the stallion but immediately stopped when he saw Leliana approaching the stables with a piece of parchment in her hands. Leo looked to the Quartermaster and bowed and the man nodded picking up the seeds to feed Shiloh. Approaching the Spymaster, he could see her demeanor more clearly; a paradoxical expression of worry and hope. Handing the parchment to Leo, she bowed before him.

“We’ve found her my lord.” she said. “We’ve found your cousin.”

Reading the report, his initial response was that of relief and joy. The report did confirm Leliana’s statement, but the more he read through the report, the more he started to worry for his cousin’s safety. Sightings of Red Templars in the Free Marches next to where she was last spotted didn’t bode well for him. If he dallied any longer, he wouldn’t arrive in time to save her.

“Thank you Leliana.” Leo bowed. “This means the world to me.”.

“It is no problem Your Worship.” Leliana responded, placing a hand on his arm. “You have done so much for me, it’s the least I could do.”

“If you could, could you accompany me on the mission?” Leo asked.

“Of course.” Leliana smiled.

“Great.” Leo nodded. “I will find Cassandra, Varric, and Dorian and the five of us will head off together.”

Looking back at the stables, Leo took a deep sigh to calm himself.

“We’ll leave in an hour.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took the team about a day and a half to arrive near the location. Last night when they arrived at a forward camp near the Ferelden shores of the Waking Sea, they sent ahead a messenger bird to inform their scouts across the sea to act accordingly if the Red Templars attacked the fortress where his cousin and other normal templars stayed hidden. In order to confirm their orders, the leader of the scouts had to send a messenger bird of their own to the forward camp on the Free Marches shores of the Waking Sea, but no bird was sent, causing Leo worry. They were only a few hours away from the fortress by horseback and could make it to the fortress by dusk. Allowing only a few minutes for his companions to rest, the five of them continued their journey on their fully rested and rejuvenated horses. 

Spurring their horses to their absolute limits, they made it to the forward camp that was near the fortress only to find it completely ravaged and destroyed. The five of them looked around to see if there were any survivors left behind and the answer only disappointed them. Leo took a moment to pray over their bodies and prayed for their souls’ safe journey to the Maker side before reconvening with Leliana.

“What do you make of all of this Leliana?” he asked.

“This attack was an ambush.” Leliana determined. “Given all the cauldrons tossed around the ground, the scouts were most likely having lunch before they were attacked. Many of them didn’t have their weapons on hand either as most of them were still by the weapons stand.”

“Stallion, I think you should look at this.” Varric said, kneeling before an unknown object.

Joining his side, Leo saw what Varric was looking at: shards of Red Lyrium.

“But how could the Red Templars even find this camp?” Cassandra questioned. “This camp is at least a mile away from the fortress and very well hidden.”

“Maybe a scout was spotted while spying on the Red Templars and unknowingly brought them back here.” Dorian assumed. “Those bastards are more crafty than they appear.”

“Maker…” Leo shook his head.

“Your Worship.” Leliana started. “Some of my scouts are missing. Usually I task about a dozen or so scouts to each camp, but we’ve only found half of them. The others may still be alive, under capture or they may have managed to escape.”

“Then we have to save them as well.” Leo nodded.

Returning back to their horses, the five of them continued on their journey to the fortress.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took the team around 5 minutes to approach the cliff that overlooked the fortress and the five of them were distraught to hear and see the chaos ensuing. From what they could see, Red Templars and normal Templars were going at each other ruthlessly, with many dead among both sides. Leliana was also able to spot some of her scouts fighting on the side of the templars but there were only so many of them. Leaving their horses near the cliff, the five of them made their way down the cliffside path and rushed across the field that led to the fortress. Approaching close to the fortress, they realized that the Red Templars vastly outnumbered whatever remaining Templar and Inquisition forces were present, but they were confident that their aid could make a huge difference. Approaching the first of the Red Templar forces, Leo was met with a swift arrow that he quickly avoided with his shield and proceeded to knock down and end the Red Templar archer with it. Leo was ready to move to the next foe ahead when another arrow raced past his face. Turning to face the archer, Leo was ready to run and take him down, but Cassandra quickly rolled in between the two and took down the archer with a quick slash. Turning back to Leo, she smirked and he returned the smirk with his own. As he kept running forward towards the bulk of the forces, a slay of arrows and fireballs from Varric and Dorian respectively accompanied him as he shield bashed his enemies.

“Inquisitor!” one of the scouts yelled.

Leo headed to the scout and assisted her as the both of them took down two Red Templars.

“Scout!” Leo said. “Are you hurt?”

“A little…” the scout said, holding her bleeding side. “But I can still...fight.”

“No, you need some aid.” Leo insisted, assisting her. “Dorian, can you please attend to her as best as you can?”

“Of course.” Dorian responded, grabbing ahold of the scout.

Before Dorian and the scout were able to take a single step away, the scout turned back to the Inquisitor.

“The person you were looking for...she is in the fortress...the cells.” the scout grunted.

“Thank you.” Leo nodded.

Dorian and the scout left, leaving the four of them and the remaining templars and scouts. Across the field, from the forest, they all could see more approaching Red Templars and it looked like they had knights, horrors, and shadows within their ranks.

“Cassandra and Varric, can you stay behind and help fight?” Leo asked.

“You can count on us, Stallion.” Varric answered, preparing Bianca for Round 2.

“Thank you.” Leo nodded. “Leliana, I will need your help finding my cousin.”

“Yes, m’lord.” Leliana nodded.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leo and Leliana made it past the fortress’ courtyard with no problem, but as soon as the two of them entered the main hall, they were met with aggressive red templars. Working together by using his shield to elevate Leliana into the air and shoot their foes, the two of them were able to put them down with relative ease. 

“The cells should be a floor down.” Leliana assured. “We should hurry.”

Running around the main hall for a moment or two, the two of them were able to find a rusted metal door that appeared to lead further down the fortress. Opening the door with a loud creak, they could hear the sound of shuffling from metal boots approaching the stairs. Preparing themselves, Leliana shot an arrow through the throat of the Red Templar approaching and the two of them found that he was the only one. Cautiously making their way down the spiderweb covered stairs, they found themselves staring into cells filled with red lyrium. Walking down the aisle, they saw the true horrors that the red templars were performing, each cell filled with dead templars that didn’t survive the red lyrium transformation. Walking past each cell, he gave a quick prayer to each of the dead templars, but he also noted that none of the dead templars looked like his cousin. Passing the second to last cell with no evidence of any surviving templars, Leo and Leliana heard the faint coughs of someone coming from the last cell. Rushing over to the cell, Leo saw that there was still a templar alive.

“Ilene?” he called.

Slowly lifting her head, the templar instantly recognized the man speaking to her and painfully coughed.

“Leo?” she questioned, not sure whether the man before her was real or an illusion born of the red lyrium growing near her.

“It’s her!” Leo cried. “It’s my cousin!”

Leliana approached the cell door and took only a few seconds to unlock the cell door. With it opened, Leo rushed to his cousin’s side and tightly embraced her, tears falling from both of their eyes. Leliana also rushed into the cell to destroy the red lyrium vein near her, nullifying its effects.

“Leo, you...came for me.” Ilene painfully smiled.

“Of course I did.” Leo responded, continuing his hold on her.

After a moment more of hugging, Leo turned back to Leliana and thanked her. She nodded and smiled, glad to see the two cousins reunited.

“We’re going to get you out of here and put a stop to the Red Templars.” Leo assured Ilene. “Can you walk?”

“Yes, eventually.” Ilene grunted. “Give me a few more minutes for my body to come back to its senses.”

“Okay.” Leo nodded. “Leliana, can you return back to the front field and aid our forces? I will escort my cousin out.”

“Yes, m’lord.” Leliana returned.

Leliana made haste out of the cells, fearing what was happening on the battlefield as Leo stayed and attended to Ilene.

“Here’s some berries and nuts from my pouch you can eat to build up your strength.” Leo said, giving her the food. “And here is some water from my flask.”

“Thank you.” she said, quickly eating through the food and drinking the water.

“What happened here?” Leo questioned.

“We were...betrayed.” Ilene revealed. “By one of our leaders; Knight-Captain Uriel”.

Leo recalled the name Uriel and realized he had met the man before. Although it was only a brief part of his life, he remembered the few short months he spent under the leadership of Uriel right before leaving the Templar Order. He remembered he, along with many other templars, being really strict about following orders, never questioning authority, and putting down the Mage Rebellion by any means necessary. They were some of the many reasons he ended up leaving the Order right before he even tasted a drop of lyrium or killed an innocent mage.

“For a while, we continued to follow him in order to fight Corypheus and his forces, but his pride and ignorance got the better of him. He thought he could manipulate the red lyrium against our enemies, but it only corrupted him. As the months went by, he started becoming more aggressive until a few weeks ago he finally snapped and started attempting red lyrium experiments on the templars. Some of them survived and started drawing more Red Templars here, but many of them died. I would’ve died within another day if you didn’t show up.” Ilene continued.

“Where is Uriel now?” Leo questioned.

“I don’t know.” Ilene admitted. “I haven’t seen him in over a week.”

“After we get you to safety, I’ll find him and make sure he sees justice for his crimes.” Leo promised.

“No, _we_ will see justice for his crimes...together.” Ilene said, determined.

After another minute, Ilene signaled to Leo that she was ready to go. Assuring that she didn’t need any assistance or help, Leo was impressed to see her walking with little to no struggle. As they passed the door leading to the stairs, Ilene took the dead Red Templars sword and chipped off any red lyrium shards that were attached to the hilt. The two of them jogged up the stairs and passed the rusted metal door to a completely empty main hall. The both of them heard faint yells and cries from beyond the main hall, signaling to Leo that the battle was still going on.

“Are you sure you’re ready to fight the battle outside?” Leo asked, concerned.

“Leo, I’m fine.” Ilene chuckled. “It’ll be like old times.”

“Okay.” Leo nodded.

The two of them resumed a jog, only to hear a monstrous roar erupt from the courtyard area. The two of them prepped their weapons. They waited a moment more, cautiously circling around to discover where the origin of the sound was moving. Eventually, another roar erupted and it was clear to the both of them that it was coming from above them. A rumble from the ceiling caused small debris to fall and the two of them jumped out of the way. Another rumble came a second later and a chunk of the roof came falling down to the ground, causing a great cloud of dust to fly in front of their faces. The two of them coughed and prepared for the smoke to dissipate, but whatever was inside the smoke didn’t give them the chance. Rushing out of the smoke, a behemoth emerged and tried slamming its club arm at Leo and Ilene, but the two of them managed to roll out of the way. The attack managed to shoot up shards of red lyrium and Leo using his shield, protected both Ilene and himself from the corrupted pieces. Getting back on their feet, they looked up at the beast, Ilene assuming an offensive stance, while Leo assumed a defensive one. The behemoth looked down at them and roared causing the glass and red lyrium shards to vibrate. Ilene looked closer at the behemoth and noticed that it wore a torn cloth that was reserved for a Knight Captain.

“Uriel…” Ilene gritted her teeth.

Uriel moved towards them, trying his luck again at another slamming attack but the two cousins dodged the attack and moved to his side. Ilene struck her sword into the Knight Captain’s crystalline leg and it let out a screech of pain. Pulling her sword out, a small cloud of red lyrium dust was released causing her to briefly cough. With her distracted, Uriel swung his non-clubbed hand at her causing her to fly against the wall. Uriel tried heading towards her, but Leo managed to shield bash Uriel’s other leg with all of his strength, causing the beast to fall to its knees. Leo started hacking at his arm and leg to distract him from Ilene who was still slowly getting to her feet and coughing. Small shards of red lyrium flung off of Uriel with each strike and Leo used his shield to avoid any shards from piercing his face and upper body. After a moment of enduring Leo’s attacks, Uriel slowly started raising his clubbed arm and swung it towards Leo. Reacting fast, Leo placed his shield in front of his body protecting him from a fatal hit but he was still launched halfway across the room. Hitting his back against the wall, he felt the air leave out of his body and he struggled to breathe. Looking back up, he saw that Uriel was struggling to get back to his feet as Ilene slowly made her way over towards Leo’s side to regroup and help him.

“Leo, are you alright?” she asked, helping him to his feet.

“Yes, I…”

At that moment, Leo looked at his left hand and saw the anchor flaring up. Ilene looked at the mark and looked back up at Leo.

“What does that mean?” she questioned, concerned.

Closing his left fist and readjusting his grip on his shield, he looked at his cousin and gave a small smile.

“It means, we can end this.” Leo explained. “I can open a rift with the mark and destroy him, but we will have to weaken him a little more.”

“That can be arranged.” Ilene assured, placing a hand on Leo's shoulder.

The two of them started rushing towards Uriel, who was now back on his feet. He appeared even more irregular due to their attacks and he walked with a limp, but they knew he was still a threat. As they approached the behemoth, he swung his clubbed arm horizontally, trying to take their heads, but the two cousins slid under the attack and simultaneously sliced at his legs. Uriel let out a screech but didn’t fall to his knees as he worked through the pain. Ilene quickly tried to attack Uriel again but was met with a scratch from him that left gaping claw marks across her arm. She stumbled back a little and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain. Meanwhile, Leo was catching the blunt hits from Uriel’s clubbed arm, though he managed to keep his bearings this time due to Uriel getting weaker. After enduring a couple more attacks, Leo looked at his shield and saw that some sharp red lyrium shards were left. Before Uriel could attack Leo again, Ilene returned and impaled her sword in the same leg she did before causing the behemoth to return on one of its knees. Using the opportunity, Leo rushed at the behemoth and impaled the beast with the red lyrium shards on his shield in his side, causing him to fall on his other knee. With Uriel severely weakened, Ilene continued to hack at him violently with her sword.

“We trusted you and you betrayed us!” she yelled, slicing smaller chunks off the Knight Captain. “You deserve an eternity in the Void!”

Tears fell down her eyes as she continued hacking at Uriel and recited the names of her fallen friends.

“I’m going to open a rift now Ilene!” Leo warned. “Get to safety!”

Running away from Uriel, Leo began opening a rift above the behemoth and the vacuum of the Fade began pulling at him. The behemoth tried his best to hold his grip on the ground, but he started screeching in pain as he felt red lyrium shards lodged in his skin being forcibly pulled off of him. His screech of pain eventually started turning into a screech of anger and before he could fully be torn apart by the rift, he angrily slammed his arm against the ground causing shards of red lyrium and dust to fly into the air.

When the dust started settling, Leo looked up from his shield and saw that Uriel was gone, along with his rift. He looked across his shield and saw multiple shards of red lyrium lodged into it again. Hitting the face of his shield on the ground, the shards shattered and he dusted himself off. Coughing, he moved over to where he last saw Ilene and called out for her.

“Ilene!” he repeatedly called.

“...Leo.” he faintly heard.

Following the voice, he found his cousin alive, but she was severely injured and bleeding. He rushed to her side and saw that a red lyrium shard was lodged in her lower abdomen.

“Ta..take it...out.” Ilene pleaded. “Don’t..let it...corrupt…”

Carefully making sure his skin wasn’t exposed through his gloves, Leo took the red lyrium shard out of her as she grunted. He angrily tossed the shard aside and removed his gloves. Gently lifting his cousin by her head and back, he looked at her with tears in his eyes.

“Ilene...don’t leave me.” Leo cried. “Not like this.”

“Leo…” she cried. “Thank...you...for...everything. Maker...bless…”

Leo embraced his cousin as the life from her body left and he shoved his face into her shoulder, trying to heal the pain he was feeling. Through his tears and sniffling, Leo heard the horn of victory from his Inquisition allies outside.

They had won, but at what cost?

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week later, Leo stood before the Skyhold garden shrine dedicated to fallen Inquisition members as he said a prayer to himself holding a small urn in his hands. He felt the tears fall from his eyes and fell onto the newly sprung grass that stood before him.

“Ilene.” Leo started. “You always accepted me for me, with no conditions. For the longest time, it was just you and I against our family.’

Leo lightly chuckled to himself, remembering his first time meeting Ilene almost 20 years ago.

“I always thought we would have more time together, but I understand that you are by His side in eternal peace and I believe that you are watching down upon me.”

Placing the urn down near the shrine, Leo heard two sets of footsteps approaching behind him. 

It was Leliana and Josephine.

Leliana approached him with a small smile and held something in her hand. While Josephine went to Leo’s side and softly held his hand as she kissed his cheek.

“Here it is, as requested my lord.” Leliana said, presenting the item to Leo.

“Thank you Leliana.” Leo smiled, taking the item. “You have been too kind to me.”

Leliana bowed and joined next to his side.

Looking down at his hands, Leo saw the seedling of an Andraste’s Grace. Slowly walking up to the many plant pots at the shrine, he knelt down and carefully planted the seedling. He would personally take care of the flower dedicated to his cousin whenever he was at Skyhold and see to it that it bloomed gracefully. Leliana also offered to take care of it whenever he wasn’t here, as she knew a lot about the flower.

Stepping back and joining Josephine and Leliana, Leo proceeded to look up to the sky.

**“Thank you, Ilene.” Leo whispered.**


End file.
